The summer heat was practically unbearable that day; with no clouds in site, barely any kind of breeze to provide any momentery relife, and worse of all a severe drought was plauging the area. For the inhabitants of the town of Odeville, this weather was to them, a living hell. The ground was always hot and dry, and would often time ruin shoes of all types if walked on for too long. The heat itself was so intense that schools and jobs would close their doors for the day in order to avoid having to pay to much for air conditioning, and with water being as scarce as it was, nobody could risk having to send a ton of people home because of heat stroke. The drought as well was a huge problem for the small town, however it was nothing compaired to the amount of suffering the local farmer of the town, Farmer Buyer, was having to deal with. This intense heat wave and droute had cost him alot of money in crops, which was really bad for him as it was in the middle of the harvest season. To add insult to injury, his electric bills where piling up at a rapid pace for some reason, to which he didn't know what it was about. Despite all these problems, the animals of Farmer Buyer's farm alway managed to try and find a way to make a good situation of the bad ones. This was especially true for Otis and his friends. For one, they managed to buy a ton of air conditioners for the barnyard, in order to cool it down alot, which was the reason as to why the farmer was having to pay a crap ton of money for the electricity. Secondly, the others (specifically Pig and Duke) managed to make a cool, refreshing mud bath large enough to fit at least fifty animals. This giant mud pit, although rather apaling for some of the animals, was a saving grace for the rest of the enhabitants. Thirdly, thanks to Abby's and Freddy's woodcarving skills, they managed to make a giant wooden patio on both sides of the barnyard for the other animals who wern't able to get themselves to the mud pit in time. As for water, that wasn't an issue eaither. Otis, Abby, and Duke managed to connect a large pipe to the main water supply of the town, which provided them an unlimited amout of water to drink at any time. With all of these things said and done, the animals really had it made for them in these dark, or rather heated, times.

That day, the farmer had gone off on a small vacation to Portland, Oragen to try and get some much needed relaxation time away from the small town. He made this decision to just go on ahead and take his week off now, rather than later, because it would be rather useless to try and go next month. Especially with the weather being the way that it was. Now, normally he would've hired someone like Snotty Boy (aka Eugine) or Nora Beady to take care of his animals for him while he was gone, however he managed to catch on to what the two of them tended to do to his animals when he wasn't looking. With that, he had filed charges against the two of them for animal cruilty and tresspasing on property respectively, which he won in court with no issues. Because of that, Snotty Boy was sent off to miltary school by order of the judge for a year, and Nora was prohibited to come at least 100 feet towards any of the animals on the property. Thus with all of that taken care off, Farmer Buyer had intrusted the care of his farm to 's husband for the week. So care for the animals was definetly in order. This was a huge relife for Otis and the others, and as a way of celebrating their victory, they all had a V.I.P session in Pig's new mud pool for the day.

"Well, I propose a toast to no more Beady, and no more Snotty Boy!" Otis annouced as he held a small glass of juice in his hoof.

The other animals, Pip, Pig, Abby, Freddy, and Peck all cheered along with Otis at the news. They all clanked their glasses together and began drinking their drinks. Once everyone was done with their drinks, Otis and the others sunk themselves down in the cool relaxing mud. Pig was certianly right about one thing, this mud was a great way to cool off in this heat. Why they hadn't done that in the beginning was anyone's guess.

"So guys, now that we don't have to deal with brace face and psycho granny anymore, what do guys want to do now?" Otis asked as he took another sip from his drink.

"Well Otis, I'm not quite sure? Usually we'd just prank people and cause mayhem, but I think we should just enjoy this day like any other day." Abby said

"You know Abby, that actually sounds good. I mean, it's better than getting hit repeatedly with thumper bats and stuff." Otis repsonded back

"What about Thumper bats?" Abby said excitedly

" Abby. Hey guys, how about we chat!" Otis said in a rather paniced and freaked out tone of voice

"What do you want to talk about Otis?" Peck asked the frightened bovine

"You know." Otis began "How about we talk about how we all came here to the Barnyard? You know, or origin stories."

"Sure, that sounds good. I am rather curious about how we all got here." Pip said hopping on Otis's shoulder.

"So, who wants to go first?" Otis questioned

The other animals all looked around at each other in thought, with the exception of Freddy as after the toast he had went to go and use the bathroom real quick. After a few seconds of "hmmm's", Pip finally spoke up.

"I guess I'll start first."

Pip cleared his throat, and then began with his story.

"Well, about eight of so years back, my mother moved into the Barnyard when she was still pregnant with me. After a few months, I was born in the Barnyard. My mother stayed with me untill she later moved to a retirement home for small rodents in mexico about three years after the move. That's when I met Otis for the first time, and ever since then we've been the best of friends."

"That was good story Pip, a bit short, but still good." Otis said

"Yeah, you guys already know what happend after I met Otis, so there really isn't much to say." Pip retorted

"I'm next!" Abby blurted out

"Go nuts." Otis replied

"Well, before I moved here, I was a simple country girl with twelve older bothers. Let me tell you, those older brothers of mine where a pain in rear end. They'd constantly pile up on me and wreasle me untill I caved. After some time, I got sick of it, and once I turned eighteen in human years, I moved out of there as fast as a bee." Abby finshed her story with that

"Okay, nice, nice. Now Peck, we already know how you got here. You where born here." Otis said

Peck nodded in agreement

"And you Pig, we found out how you came here as well. Well... that was after we met your crazy clan of pigs, and that psycho pig bride that you where going to marry. Man was she a witch with a captial B." Otis said

"Oh you can say that again." Pig said chuckling silghtly

"So I guess that means the only animal we haven't heard yet is Freddy. And Thinking about it, I don't think we've ever heard too much about Freddy's past have we?" Otis asked

"Well you know him Otis, he's rather secretive about somethings." Peck said

"Has he ever told you anything about his life before the Barnyard?" Otis asked the young rooster

"Now that you mention it, no..Not really. I've actually tried to talk to him about that a few times, but every time I do he.." Peck paused

"He what?" Pip said

"He'd freeze up instantly and start shaking. i had to splash water over his face to snap him out of whatever trance he was in. The worst reaction I've gotten from him was when he froze for about a few minutes and then he just bolted to the bathroom without a word. He stayed in there for about twenty minutes, and I could've sworn he had been crying in there too. As when he walked out of the bathroom, his eyes were puffy and red and his muzzle was wet. I tried asking him about it, but he just waved the question away like that."

The others all looked at Peck with a look of suprsise at what he had told them. This wasn't like Freddy to just freeze and run off like that.

"You don't think that Freddy might have another secret he's not telling us, right?" Otis said concerned

"Otis, I don't know if we should even try and talk to Freddy about this. It's not really our right to try and crack open his skull and get a bunch of information that he wants left alone." Abby said

"Well...I mean...Freddy doesn't normally act like that. I think we should try and talk with him. As gently as possible that is." Otis said

The others looked at each other for a bit, and then nodded in agreement. Within a few minutes after the conversation, Freddy had finally came back from the bathroom, ready to get himself all cooled down with mud.

"Oh my gosh, it's hot as hell out here." Freddy yelled out as he sunk his body down into the mud

Freddy let out a relived sigh and then proceeded to grab his half finished drink that lied next to him and take a sip from it.

"Hey Freddy." Otis began

"Yeah Otis." Freddy responded back

"You know, we've been having a nice chat with everyone today, and we were all talking about how we came here to the Barnyard. Now, we already know how everyone else got here, but we still don't know your story."

Freddy immediatly stopped drinking from his glass, and froze for a few seconds. He then looked over towards the others and said in a rather paniced tone.

"You...you don't want to know."

"Oh come on Freddy, it wouldn't hurt now would it?" Abby protested

Freddy stiffined once more, and then started shaking slightly.

"I...I don't want to talk about i...it." Freddy said in a barely understandable whisper

"What was that Freddy?" Otis asked

"I SAID I DONT WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!" Freddy screamed

The sudden ubruptness of Freddy's yell made the other animals jump with fright, some of whom even dropped their drinks in the thick, pudding like, mud. Everyone in the mud pool looked at Freddy with a look of suprise and slight shock on their faces.

"Freddy...I" Otis began

However, before Otis could finish his sentence, Freddy immeditaly got out of the mud pool, and bolted towards the Barnyard. Everyone in the pool looked at each other with odd looks plastered on their faces, with the exception of Peck that is. He had fully expected something like this to happen, as he had seen that kind of thing before.

"I...I...what did I say?" Otis said baffled

"It's not your fault Otis, we all know how Freddy tends to react to things like this." Pip said

"Well, still... Maybe I should've just said something else to him. I mean, Peck did tell us about how Freddy reacts when he's asked that question." Otis said

"True, but maybe if we talk about what's bothering him so much, maybe he might cool down a bit." Pip said

"Guys, like I said before. It's not our right to go and try and force Freddy to talk. If anything, we just need to keep out of his buissness for now. He'll talk to us when he's ready." Abby said to the others

"You think I should go and apologize?" Otis asked

"I don't see why not, in fact I think we all should go and do that as well. You wern't the only one pressing Freddy." Abby said with a hint of guilt in her voice

Freddy had quickly made his way into his stall and locked it. To try and add more security, he pulled a cord that covered the open part of his stall with two large, thick purple curtians. After he had done this, he sighed, and sat himself down on the bean bag chair/bed in silence. He tried so hard to keep himself from breaking down right then and there. As he sat, multiple thoughts and memories of his past filled his head to the brim. Freddy gritted his teeth and shut his eyes tightly as an attempt to make the thoughts go away, but it did little to soften his suffering. He even started hitting his head against the wall to try and knock himself out so that way he wouldn't have to think about anything. However, on his final slam, he just gave up and slumped down onto his bean bag bed, warm tears flowing down his face.

"What am I going to do?" Freddy said to himeself "I've been keeping all of these thoughts a secret for almost twelve years of my life, and I just don't know anymore."

"Maybe it's time for you to speak up." A voice called out

Freddy immeditatly bolted up from his chair and looked around in his now darkened room.

"Who said that?!" Freddy said paniced

"Over here?" The voice said

Freddy carefully looked over to where the voice was coming from, and after a few seconds of searching, he managed to find the source of the voice. It was coming from his reflection in a mirror. He staired at the smiling image of himself for a few seconds in complete awe, untill he started shaking his head violently.

"No! No..no! I'm not going to listen to you!" Freddy said angrly towards his reflection

"Freddy, you and I both know for an absolute fact that you need to talk about this with someone." The reflection said in a soft and caring voice

"Why should I?" Freddy snapped back

"Because for three reasons. Reason number one, it's not healthy to bottle up your emotions and your past for any time, much less tweleve years! Reason number two, it'll be a big weight lifted off of your shoulder. And finally, reason number three, you'll have your friends to help you and support you too. They love you Freddy, and the last thing they'd ever want to see is their friend suffering."

"I don't know..." Freddy said softly

"Look Freddy, if you don't speak up, then there's going to be a day to which your going to expload from all of that emotional buildup."

"Wait I'm going to expload!?" Freddy gasped

"No Freddy you won't... At least not physcially that is. What I'm trying to say Freddy is that your like a soda bottle. The more you shake it, the more likely it's bound to expload when you open the cap. That soda bottle is you Freddy, and the fizz is your past. I promise you Freddy, if you don't talk about your past with someone, your going to eventually snap and lash out at someone. Or worse. And also think about your friends too. If they saw you exploade like that, then they'd most likely blame themselves for causing it, and you don't want that now do you?" the reflection said

Freddy looked at the reflection, and then down at the floor. He knew for an absolute fact that the reflection was right, and that he needed to talk to someone as soon as he possibly can. After a few moments of contemplating on what he needed to do, he looked back up at the mirror that contained his reflection and said.

"Your right. I need to just go on ahead and let all of this out."

"That's a very good decision Freddy, and one thing I want to tell you before I go." the reflection said

"What's that?" Freddy asked

"Don't leave anything out, even if it hurts you to say it. Just tell your story and take as much time as you need to do it." the reflection responed

"Okay, thanks again." Freddy said softly

"No problem Freddy."

With that all said and done, the reflection in the mirror faded away and was replaced with the usual reflection shown in mirrors. Freddy took a deep breath, and sat back down on his bed. Just as he was about to get back up, he heard a soft knocking coming from the door to his stall.

"You guys, I don't think that this is a good time, maybe we should leave Freddy in peace." Otis said nervously

Abby was about to say something, when the soft creak of a wooden door opening interupted her. The other animals looked down to see Freddy sticking his head out of the stall door, looking at them with a guilty expression on his face.

"Hey guys, what's up." Freddy said softly

"Hey Freddy, look I'm, well we're, all sorry for pushing you like that back at the mud pool. We should've just left it alone, and moved on to something else." Otis said apologetically

"It's okay Otis, I'm not mad. If anything, I'm the one who should be apologizing for freaking out back there." Freddy said

"All is forgiven Freddy." Abby began "We won't force you to talk if you don't want to. We'll all respect your privacy like you respect ours."

"Thanks you guys, but about that." Freddy said as he grasped his tail "I...uh..actually want to tell you guys my story.."

The others all where suprised at this.

"Just one thing I want to ask before we do this. Can we all talk in private, and when everyone else in already asleep?" Freddy asked

"Of course Freddy, we'll do that for you. Where do you want to meet up at?"

"My stall at around eight pm." Freddy said

"Alright, that sounds like a plan." Otis said

WIth that, everyone went back to the mud pool and enjoyed the rest of the day in peace.

Later that night, once everyone had fallen asleep, Otis and the rest of the gang , minus Freddy, made their way towards Freddy and Peck's stall. Upon entering said stall, they where immeditaly met with Freddy sitting down on his bean bag bed. He looked up at all of them, and smiled. He then gestured for all of his freinds to sit down wherever they wanted, to which they all complied with.

"Everybody comfortable?" Freddy asked

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Okay, so I guess I'll start with the beginning. My earliest memory of my life before coming to the Barnyard was when I was around eight years old at the time. I was starting my first year of elementery school after my parents home schooled me for the past few years.

Flashback

"Oh Freddy sweeite, you look so handome in that little uniform of yours!" Margert aka Freddy's mother said gleefully.

The young orange kit looked down at the small dark blue button up shirt and matching blue sweater vest to go with it. The young freddy looked up and smiled at his mother.

"I looks silly mommy." The young kit said as he giggled a bit

"Well mommy thinks you look amasing, sweetie. Herb! Get the camera we need to put this wonderful moment in our family album!" Margret called out as she held Freddy in a loving embrace, basking in his cuteness.

"I'll be right over mother dear, just need to find that old thing." Herb called out from the kitchen.

There was a series of loud noises and rummaging that filled the entire house with noise. After a few minutes, the noises finally ended, and Freddy's father Herb came walking out with a poleroid camera grasped in his paws.

"Alrighty-o, just got the camera. Now everybody say cheese!" Herb said as he balanced the camera on a stand and set a manual timer.

The camera then flashed a bright white, signaling that the picture had been taken. Herb then got up from where he had postiioned to take the picture, and went up to the camera. He then removed the developed picture and shook it around a bit to clear it up.

"So honey, how's the picture?" Margret asked

"It's perfect." Herb replied

"I wanna see Daddy, I wanna see!" Freddy said hopping up and down in excitement

"Alright son, here you are. Just be careful with it. We don't want it to smudge." Herb said, placing the photo into Freddy's paws.

"Wow. Looks good daddy." Freddy said, his eyes widened with glee

Freddy's father smiled as he russled his son's fur.

"Oh dear, Freddy sweetie, it's time for you to go to school." Marget called out

"Okay mom." Freddy called back

Freddy then went towards the front door of his home and then opened it up, not before a small brown lunch bag was placed in his right paw by his mother.

"Don't wanna forget your lunch now don't you sweetie." Margret said

"Thanks Mommy. Love you." Freddy said hugging his mother.

"Love you too Freddy." Margret said hugging her son back

"Now, apperently this school that I was going to was one of the top notch, fancy, kind of schools for ferrets like myself. I don't really remember what the name of the school itself was, but the one thing that defentely stood out about it, was the fact that it was an above ground building with lights and other things. Kind of like the schools around here, but smaller. it wasn't long before I finally made it to the schoolyard, and let me tell you, I was very nervious. Which I guess is normal for anyone who's starting school for the first time in their lives. Now, when I finally got myself in one of the classrooms, I was introduced to the other students by the teacher. However, instead of a hello or even a a curtosy look. Everyone just looked at me like I was some kind of alien from outer space. This wasn't normal, at least not for me. What my mother had told me before school even started for me, was that everyone was supposed to make you feel welcome there. I certianly didn't feel welcomed there. For the rest of the school day, I was pretty much left by myself by the other students. That is, untill the end of the day.

Flashback

The school bell rang loudly, signaling that the day had finally came to an end. With that, Freddy gathered his things and made his way out of his classroom, down the hall, and out of the school doors in a matter of minutes.

"Well...today certianly stunk." Freddy complained

As Freddy continued to walk home, he walked past a group of black footed ferrets who where making their way home from school as well. The eldest of the group, looked over at Freddy and smirked.

"Hey!" The elder ferret yelled out "Little orange faggot!"

Freddy stopped in his tracks and looked back at the one who had called out to him in such a rude way.

"What do you want?" Freddy yelled out

The elder ferret signaled his friends to fallow him towards the younger kit.

"Listen here, you orange freak!" The elder ferret taunted "We don't know how you managed to get yourself here, but I'm going to tell you right now. Get out of this school and go back to where you came from."

This sudden verbal attack from the this black footed ferret caught Freddy off guard. He didn't understand why this guy was messing with him, hell he didn't even know him.

"Why should I? My parents payed a lot of money to get me in here." Freddy retorted

"I honestly don't give two fucks who the hell sent you here, and why. I don't want you here." the blackfooted ferret snarled

"No." Freddy responed back

"What did you say to me you little fag?" the elder taunted

"I said no, you don't have any say in this. Now shut up and go away."

With that Freddy turned his back on the older ferrets and began making his way back home. The elder ferret growled and then snapped his fingers.

"The next thing I know, I'm getting beaten up by the other ferrets that where with that guy. They continued to beat me untill I could taste blood in my mouth. One of them wound up kicking me in the head repeatedly utill I blacked out. I later woke up about a couple of hours later in the same spot I was at. They broke my nose and gave me mutlitple brusies all over my body. It was already starting to get dark out when I had woken up. I went home, and my parents noticed my bruises and broken nose, and quickly took me to the doctors. Thankfully I was able to make a quick recovery, and my parents immediatly complained to the principal the next day at school. He said that he would do something about it, but like most principals, he honestly didn't give a shit about it. In fact to add insult to injury, I wound up getting suspended for at least three days after that peice of shit Jeremy (the guy who had beat me up earlier) somehow managed to convince the prinicipal that I was the one who started the fight. This of course wasn't true in the slightest bit, but it's not like anyone really cared. For the next few months, I was continuesly bullied and harrased by Jeremy and all of his freinds. This kept on going untill one day. I just snapped.

Flashback

"Alright class, today we will be learning about dividing fractions." said

Freddy carefully listened as the teacher continued to give the lession, however just as he was about to start taking notes he felt something wet and sticky land on the back of his head.

"What the heck was that?" Freddy said annoyed

He reached over towards the back of his neck and felt what had landed on him. A spitball... Freddy growled a deep growl, as his anger built up on him like a valcano. Then, without warning, all Freddy could see was red.

End of Flashback

"After about a few minutes, I wound up snapping out of the trance I was in. I found myself on the ground, with Jeremy below me, clutching his arm. Then I noticed the blood around and on me. It covered my face, my paws, but mostly it was in my mouth. Then I felt something in my mouth that was very chewy and tough. I pulled out what it was, and found out that it was a large peice of skin with muscle tissue still attatched to it. I remember looking at all my classmates. They had a look of fear plastered on their faces. The only thing that I did for the rest of that school day, untill the police arrived that is, was just cry. I never once thought that I'd ever hurt someone like that, much less lose my sanity. The next day after that, me , my parents, and Jeremy's parents where all ordered to go to the pricipals office to discuss the situation.

Flashback

"Mr. and Mrs. Ferret, I'm glad you could come here at such a short notice." the principle, a dark furred ferret, told them.

"It's not like we had much of a choice." Herb spat

"Well if you little freak of a son didn't attack my boy, we wouldn't be in here now would we?!" Mr. Watson, Jeremy's father, yelled.

Freddy quickly cowered in his mother's arms. He honestly didn't want to be there at all.

"Calm yourself Watson!" The principal snapped

immediatly sat back down, but not before giving a death glare to the young cowering kit that sat next to him. The principal immeadiatly looked at Freddy with a stern face.

"Now son, do you know how much trouble your in?" The pricipal said sternly

Freddy didn't say anything, but instead he just nodded his head yes as tears started to flow down his eyes.

"I'm sorry , I...I didn't mean to...to bite him..." Freddu said in between sobs.

"Sorry? Sorry!" Mr. Watson screamed "My son lost his fucking arm because of you, you little fucker!"

"Your son deserved it!" Herb yelled "He was the one that was torturing my son day in and day out every single day he came to school!"

" , need I remind you that it was your son who caused that fight to begin with?" said softly

"That's a load of bull! Jeremy was the one who beat up my son! If anything, he's the freak not my son!" Herb screamed once more.

"Enough of this!" Principal Lane yelled out

The angry pricipal looked down at Freddy, and said softly to him.

"Son, I'm going to have to ask you to please wait outside for the rest of the confrence, do you understand me?

"Yes...sir." Freddy mummbled

"Good, this shoudn't take long son." The principal said

End of Flashback

"I stayed outside in the hall for about twenty or so minutes, before my parents came out of the office. My mom was crying her eyes out, and my dad looked completely depressed. The rest of the day wans't very great for eaither me or my parents. And I felt like garbage knowing the fact that I had caused everyone so much pain and heartache. The next day, me and my parents took a very long walk to a very large white building. Now, I was eight at the time, and I didn't know that it was a mental hospital. I honestly thought it was just a giant white hotel. At the time, it certianlly looked nice, but I was still confused as to why we had went there in the first place.

Flashback

"Mommy, what are we doing here?" the young kit asked

Freddy's mother was trying to hold back tears as she answered him in a very raspy voice.

"I..It's a special...place for ferrets...like you sweetie."

"Is it like a hotel mommy?" Freddy asked

"Yes...yes sweetie. It's like that, but you live here for a little while." Margret answered

"For how long?" Freddy asked

"Not for long honey, not for long..." Freddy's mother was already crying her eyes out, as she carefully held her son's hand

Not long after that converstation, Freddy and his family made there way into the lobby of the asylum. Upon entry, the three where immediatly met by a few nurses.

"So this is Freddy, isn't he?" The young ferret nurse said as she knelt down next to the young kit in front of her.

"Yes, this is Freddy." Herb said with a tinge of saddness in his voice.

"Well Freddy, welcome to this cozy little place." The bubbly ferret said "My name is Samantha."

Samantha looked up at Freddy's parents, and then said in a quiet voice.

"I'll let you guys have a few minutes."

Samantha then walked off to another room, leaving the trio of ferrets in the lobby room alone.

"This is a really nice place mommy, we should visit here more often!" Freddy said with a hint of glee in voice.

"Freddy sweetie." Margret said kneeling herself down at Freddy's angle "Mommy and Daddy need to go now."

At this point, Freddy's mom started to cry.

"But mommy, I thought I was only going to be here for a little bit." Freddy said confused

"Yes sweetie, you won't be here for long. But...but now you need to stay here for the time being." Herb said kneeling down next to him as well.

"But..." Freddy said as his eyes began to water.

"I know honey, we don't want you to go eaither, but...we have to." Margret said crying

"Okay you guys, it's time for Freddy to get settled in now." Samantha said coming out of the other room she had entered a few minutes back.

With that, both Herb and Margret embraced Freddy in a large group hug, not a single face was dry during the hug. After a few seconds of hugging, they all seperated.

"I love you mommy and daddy." Freddy said crying

"We love you to Freddy." Margret and Herb said in unison to their son as they wave their goodbyes to their son.